


blue night books

by rainybluemoon



Category: SHINee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Coffee Shops, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:22:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26074105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainybluemoon/pseuds/rainybluemoon
Summary: jinki gets caught in a summer rainstorm and takes shelter in jonghyun's bookshop/coffeebar and they get lost in each other's eyes
Relationships: Kim Jonghyun/Lee Jinki | Onew
Comments: 13
Kudos: 20
Collections: Summer of SHINee Round 2





	blue night books

**Author's Note:**

> *lyrics from 눈싸움 blinking game   
> translations: pop!gasa

8:25am

the first things jonghyun did upon entering his little bookshop were pressing on the stereo and lighting the candles. the stereo was done in a second, and faint notes started trickling into the open spaces. there were several candles throughout the brightly lit rooms--two on his desk hidden away in the doorless windowless back room where stacks and stacks of books new and old laid waiting impatiently, a summery strawberry pink in a short glass tumbler, and a tall black jar filled with musk and forest night air (he placed this one on a warmer but left it unlit); another open and pale and almost absent of scent right next to the register on the counter in the main room, just off to the side of the entrance, vanilla and amber barely lingering even when he put his nose right into it (this one he lit with an open flame that ate up the matchstick and singed his fingertip); a third he opened last night and put next to his favorite armchair, on the sill of the large glass window overlooking the street, strong lavender and vanilla in a tall willowy glass that he lit after snipping the white-waxed wick; a last next to the pastry display set into the cafe bar to the left of the sitting room, caramel wax filling the air with chai spices and warmth. it was still late summer and much too early to have it out, but he'd been feeling cold lately. the sun had been bright and harsh and miserable over the past month, scorching the sidewalks outside of his shop and searing his shoulders. he kept the air conditioning on high and shivered throughout each day. 

he paused after lighting the chai candle, watching the wax as it began to pool quickly, music drifting through him, a hum barely at his lips, words twitching in his fingers, sunrays already shining through the windows, this early. he breathed out slowly. there was a lot to do. 

he nudged a crooked bookspine back into place on a table that was labelled  _ new arrivals, _ although some were very, very old, and then slipped behind the cafe counter to fill the kettle. he set it to boil with one hand as he grabbed a large well-worn mug with the other.

half an hour later, the new hire arrived.

jonghyun was paging through a novel behind the register on the books side of his shop when taemin stepped inside and started looking around sheepishly. “hey, good morning!' jonghyun beamed.

taemin’s eyes went wide. “hi? am i late?”

“no, you’re fine,” jonghyun said. he rolled his shoulders back and started digging through the pockets of his denim jacket. “here you go. just in case i’m ever late. that probably won’t happen, but still.” he held a key copy up.

“thanks.” taemin smiled nervously and took the key. “please don’t let that happen anytime soon.”

jonghyun huffed a quiet laugh, his eyes crinkling up under his black fringe. “don’t worry. let’s get you started.”

10:25am

taemin held full control of the bar and was exceedingly twitchy about it. he jumped every time a new customer walked through the glass door of the shop. only one person had ordered an iced americano to go since jonghyun had left him to it, and he had managed to not drop anything or blink too much or stutter--all good things, he reassured himself. this was fine. this was a fine job and he hadn't broken the espresso machine yet today and kibum wasn't looking over his shoulder and pointing in every direction and giving instructions faster than taemin could process them, but it was all fine. jonghyun was a good boss--a bit noisy sometimes and a bit too quiet in others, but very kind and almost too comfortable to be around. he felt a bit like an older cousin, like taemin could become close with him, if he wanted, but he wasn't sure about that yet.

jonghyun peeked at taemin’s progress every so often from the stool behind the book counter as he welcomed and rang up his customers. taemin was nervous, but jonghyun was confident that he’d get into his stride. he’d been training with kibum for three weeks before kibum left the shop to begin preparing in earnest for his exhibition that autumn. jonghyun let another smile slip out as he thought of his best friend. kibum’s paintings would be bright and seen on real white walls with real people looking and admiring and discussing. it was all that kibum deserved after so much doubt. 

'mm, maybe this one?' a small giggle carried over from the stacks to the left of the books register jonghyun stood behind, overseeing the width of his shop from his center position. having trained himself to not stare at the sundry customers who sauntered through his days, flirting with his books between the shelves and with each other between the stacks, jonghyun let his gaze flick over to the noise without moving his head. his hands kept busy paging through a receipts ledger, but he let himself listen. it wasn't hard to hear the attraction between him and her, and he let himself wrinkle his nose. all this dust. 

12:25pm

“please come again~” jonghyun handed a stack of books, a mix of wrinkled and crisp, to his last customer and stretched his arms. checking that there was no one else in line, or perusing the outtermost shelves, he decided that he could take his break. he meandered over towards the bar and ordered an iced latte. taemin kept glancing at him nervously over the top of the espresso machine, as if jonghyun were analyzing his every move through the counter. “relax. you’re doing really well.”

taemin took a breath and smiled. it came out a little trembly, and he slid the cup across the other end of the bar with a forcefully steady hand. “thanks.”

jonghyun grabbed his lunch bag from the backroom and settled into his favorite armchair by the window. it was wide and deep grey and plush and felt like a comforting enclave against the day, a way to escape being _on_ for everyone, being in public, for just moments. the sun had diminished, deep grey clouds rolling in as the rich heat settled in like a rare fog. jonghyun watched as two customers clasped hands beneath a table and rose together, linked as they left through the door, the glass swinging firmly behind them as they stepped out into that muggy heat. he watched, and he nibbled at his loaf and bit into a nectarine, and a welcome chill crept up his arms as the rain started. 

1:25pm

jinki was working his garden, a small assortment of planters and pots on the balcony of his apartment building, when he decided that he needed more potting soil, and something to help the bruises fade from his yellow roses. as soon as he left the house and made it several blocks down the wide street, the sky, having been pleasantly blue and sunlit all morning, turned and began to downpour. everything became muggy and sweaty, and he could feel it all go straight to his skin, his t-shirt sticking to him in all the most uncomfortable ways.

blue night books. 

that was the name of the bookstore across the next narrow street, a pale light slanting through the glass door. jinki ducked quickly inside, hair plastered to his forehead and cheeks and wild about his ears, his t-shirt soaked through black at the shoulders. he hadn’t even considered digging out an umbrella that day.

_ please don’t be shy _

the image of the linked hands between that couple wandered back into jonghyun's head as he sucked up the last of his latte, eyes roaming over his shop from his favorite little corner by the window. he was used to observing. he always watched the romances--not romance films, so much, anymore, but the people who came into his shop everyday, individuals here and there, grazing book covers, grazing fingers. matching up book covers to people, noticing how people fell in love, matching drink orders to voices and tangled hands. he had a bit of a love/hate relationship with it. 

'i think he's in love,' he had confided in taemin a couple of hours ago, glancing at the retreating back of a young man with a blue canvas tote half-full of dickinson and half-full of keats, a latte with two light pumps of vanilla steaming from one hand with an americano in the other, following another young man to a small circular table settled snugly between two bookshelves, the edge just snicking the windowpane. 

taemin had raised his brow, effectively disappearing it behind his overgrown bangs. 'i can't tell if you're happy or upset about it,' he said honestly. 

jonghyun shrugged. 'a bit of both, i imagine.'

the image stayed at the forefront of jonghyun's mind, disrupting each scene of his novel. he wasn't lonely, per se. he was doing well enough, owning this shop, happy to have a new barista in taemin, missing kibum but happy for him as well. there was no reason to be unhappy, as it were. and yet. 

one of his latest compositions filtered down through the stereo and static and the dust that swam in the air between people flipping pages and touching ink and murmuring and sipping taemin's concoctions. jonghyun watched a man who had made his rounds methodically through the stacks over the past twenty minutes come to a stop at a short display table marked bestsellers. he watched as the man let his wide palm run over a glossy cover, open it to read the synopsis on the inside flap. he had something of an attractive lock of hair across his forehead, something suggesting a nice build beneath his washed-out jacket, but nothing enough to stir jonghyun from his spot snuggled up in his plush armchair by his window. at least there was never anything wanting in his books. the rain dripped more steadily outside, threading narrow rivulets down the glass that met and departed.

the door was struck open, swinging boldly on its hinges.

jonghyun startled away from his novel. his eyes went wide at the sudden apparition of a dripping-wet man standing in the entrance, puddling onto the wooden slats. immediately, he got up and snatched a spare towel from taemin at the bar behind him, walking over and handing it to the newcomer.

the man grinned bashfully, a blush flowing up his neck, and patted himself dry. “um. sorry.” he glanced around the shop, his blush going even redder as he noticed other customers scattered about, all turned towards him. he gestured uselessly at the sopping towel, at the puddle formed at his feet on jonghyun’s shiny wood floor, at the beating grey rain behind him, before letting his hand fall with a soft wisp against his sodden jeans.

jonghyun couldn't help noticing how easily he smiled at this newcomer, with his bright eyes and bright smile and bright hair--everything about him altogether too bright on this grey stormy day. a summer storm. a summer sun. shining brightly in his little shop. 

jonghyun blushed. 'can i get you another towel?' he asked the man. 

jinki looked up from his little misery, startled. 'um. no. i think i'm okay.' he plucked half-heartedly at his still half-soaked shirt, then brought his hand up to ruffle at his reddish-chocolate curls. 'that's the last time i'm bothering to do my hair this year, though, if this is all i'll get for it,' he joked. 

jonghyun bit back a wide grin. he'd noticed the hair. he'd noticed everything, if he were being perfectly honest. he shrugged though and, deciding that his break was well and truly over, went back to his position behind the books counter, smiling widely at a woman who landed a heavy stackful of literature beside the register with a breathless huff. he scanned them across, helping her lay them safely inside her canvas tote, the spines just so, the corners safe. he glanced up as he arranged two particularly unwieldy texts against each other, only to catch the newcomer's turning head and a line of scarlet down his left ear as he wandered into the right side of the shop, near the bar and the few tables and chairs littered about in front of the windows, through which the rain was still pouring steadily, grey, making the roads a multi-faceted mirror for the feet splashing through. it only took a few minutes for him to settle into jonghyun's favorite deep grey armchair, still watching the weather.

the shop was small enough that speaking across it didn't require too loud a voice, and jonghyun was in a good mood anyway. it was raining, after all. 'we have a bar,' he called towards the window seat, his favorite plush chair inhabited by the newcomer. 

the man startled and looked round at jonghyun again. 'huh?'

jonghyun smiled broadly and pointed at taemin, who was peeking over the top of the espresso machine and beneath thick black bangs. taemin blushed behind his hair and ducked his head.

the man stood uncertainly, glancing back and forth between jonghyun behind his counter and taemin behind his. two customers milled around the back shelves to the far left of the shop, looks of concentration and hushed steps on thick carpet. jonghyun felt comfortable enough carrying on a conversation in the near-emptiness. 'aren't you cold? do we have a hot special today, taemin-ah?'

'uhh….' taemin hastily moved to the register and whole-handedly lifted the customer-facing chalkboard around so he could read it. 'something with praline? what is praline, anyway?'

'hmm,' jonghyun mused, tapping his counter. 'maybe kibummie's as anxious for autumn as i am. let's change it to a coconut cream latte.' his gaze shifted back to jinki. 'coconut cream latte?'

'double-shot,' the newcomer agreed, nodding and moving towards taemin's register.

jonghyun ducked down behind his counter to begin marking a new batch of inventory that had arrived while he'd been eating lunch. focused on separating poetry from fiction from non-fiction, he only heard murmurs from the coffee bar until he popped his head up again to see that his favorite spot was once-again occupied, the soggy newcomer sipping from a steaming white mug with a pursed mouth, taemin with his back turned scrubbing at utensils. checking that his customers were still busy perusing the stacks and shelves of books, jonghyun slipped over to the bar, letting his eager eyes trail over jinki on the way. 

'what's his name?' jonghyun hissed at taemin's back, leaning gently against the pastry case.

taemin jumped and turned, holding his sudsy hands up, the foam dripping down to where his sleeves were pushed to his elbows. 'why?'

'i like getting to know my new customers,' jonghyun said solemnly, his eyes wide, until he had to blink away a too-long hair from his lashes. 

taemin shrugged. 'his name's jinki. he ordered the special you had me write up. coconut cream latte, but with more espresso and less cream.' 

jonghyun frowned, momentarily distracted. 'how much cream were you planning on doing for a normal order?'

taemin hummed. 'i don't really know. i'm still learning, aren't i?' he took a mug and poured a measure of coconut cream into it. 'maybe this much for a twelve-ounce size?'

considering the cup critically, jonghyun nodded. 'yeah, that seems fine. normal even, unless you're on a diet.'

taemin hummed again, looking down at the mug too. 'maybe i should try to diet a little,' he said, bringing a hand up to pinch roughly at his cheek. 

jonghyun frowned, the corners of his lips pulling down and a crease deep between his brows. 'do you mind?' he asked. taemin shook his head hesitantly, quizzically. jonghyun brought a hand up and softly cupped taemin's cheek, holding it gently. 'you're lovely.' he said, smiling, before turning away, eyes keen towards the corner chair.  _ jinki _ .

2:25pm

_ i don’t want you to put away your eyes _

_ when you look at me _

_ i wanna lock eyes with you and have a staring contest _

'what do you like about tolkien?' jonghyun asked jinki lightly, nudging the low table with his kneecap. the fellowship of the ring lay there, creased and wrinkled cover, a few pages loose and peeking out from the bound raff, bent at the corners. jinki had selected it from the borrow bin after taemin had served him his latte and brought it back to his seat. watching the summer storm grow increasingly boisterous out the window, jinki had thought it safe to assume that he wouldn't be getting his potting soil or rose elixir that day, and he may as well wait the rain out in this cozy shop. 'it is jinki, right?'

jinki's eyebrows raised as he met eyes with jonghyun, and held them, but nodded. 'and you?'

'jonghyun,' he said easily, dragging a spare stool over the plop down next to jinki's chair. 

jinki picked up the book and opened it to a passage, his fingers holding the book open at the edges as jonghyun leaned down a little to read it. there was so much green. 'it lets me escape.'

jonghyun wanted to escape. 'try this one.' he pulled open a discreet drawer nestled in the side table next to the chair, pulling out the silmarillion and pushing it into jinki's lap.

jinki looked at the cover, but his gaze seemed torn between the new book and jonghyun's bright eyes. they were so pretty, dark and interested with a hint of excitable mischief. 'i've read it,' he said distractedly. he focused on jonghyun. 'so, jonghyun, you work here?'

'the owner,' jonghyun confirmed, setting back on his stool to give jinki more space. 

'you own this place?' jinki looked around, a new shade of awe in his countenance. he seemed to be noticing for the first time the little nooks and crannies, the lit candles and the warmth and the books stacked in every available space, the quiet jazz composition filtering through hidden speakers. jonghyun's eyes caught his again and he couldn't look away. a twin blush.

3:25pm

all he could see outside was the bustle of people moving through the days too fast to live, no one glancing up, eyes all staring forward, quick-peeking, phones out in palms and glinting the sun across windows, all concrete glass tar and fabric. manufactured. faces rushing past their airbrushed counterparts plastered on skyscraper billboards. no room to breathe. a stifling mask against anything unadvertised.

there's no fruition here.

taemin poured organic coffee beans into the grinder. they rattled against plastic and metal; the beads of his bracelet clinked against hardwood counters. behind the bar was a safe place for him. he would do his own dance with the beans, milks, and machinery, moving gracefully in that compact space.

except when orders had to be taken. 

he still panicked in front of the mirror at home, holding his eyes steady against his own bashful reflection, straightening his shoulders, keeping his fingertips resolutely away from playing with his own lips, keeping teeth away from bitten nails, a smile. there. with teeth? without? should he show his eye smile? 

how to relate to people who don't really see you, just what you can produce.

_ sometimes i forget to look up at the sky. sometimes i forget there are stars behind that haze. what is above us what i can't see,  _ taemin had admitted to jonghyun last week, spoken into night air, deep black after long hours of training after open hours. they hadn't known each other long, and still didn't know each other well, but taemin sometimes felt like he wanted to share things with jonghyun, above all others in his life. but there was something about jonghyun, like he was always holding back. taemin wished he could reach inside and pull it out, whatever it was.

taemin was in the middle of making another coconut latte, full cream this time, for a young woman with a bulging sack of books thrown across her shoulders, but he took a second to go on tiptoe, peering over the bar to see jonghyun taking another break, sitting with jinki. his face looked warmer than taemin had seen it in the weeks he'd known him.

5:25pm

_ sometimes, i’m afraid to fall asleep _

_ what if i open my eyes to a different world? _

_ sometimes, i have these stupid thoughts _

'it's been a while since i left the city, but i really miss the water,' jinki said, folding his coffee-stained napkin into an increasingly small triangle. 'fresh air, you know? my terrace garden does well enough but i'm craving a real view full of plants. greenery.'

jonghyun nodded. 'i can understand that,' he said, waving through the window at the grey wash over the whole scene. pattering rain and thick smog even on days it wasn't storming. he kept his eyes on the window for a long moment, but then found them uninhibitedly meeting jinki's again. jinki who was watching him steadily, who had his hands on the table steady and firm as he creased the napkin between them. 

'what are you craving?' jinki asked abruptly, setting the napkin down and tapping jonghyun's resting wrist with the tip of his forefinger. 'are you happy here?'

jonghyun laughed. 'that's a loaded question.' he stayed silent for a moment, considering, savoring his thoughts before answering. he really ought to get back to his counter, finish going through those new books minho had dropped off earlier, tally up his receipts and check out the progress of the bestseller table….

'i find comfort in books, but i couldn't stay here forever.' it was the first time he'd admitted it outright to someone else, and a shadow of surprise passed over his brow. jinki curved his mouth up slightly, encouragingly, let his denim-clad knee rest briefly against jonghyun's ripped, open jeans. bare skin with goosebumps. warmth. 

jonghyun looked a bit nervous, still forming the words inside his mouth. jazz trickled down between them as the rain started to slow. unbidden, that image of the man and woman displaying their linked hands came starkly to the forefront of his mind.

'i want to tell my own stories, and others'. but i get nervous with change.'

jinki waited, letting his forefinger rest against jonghyun's wrist now, just one point of contact. brief, like all of this. like jonghyun's steadying breath.

'i've always wanted to go into radio, honestly,' he said, hunching his shoulders slightly in on himself, like he was baring something raw. 'i've kept the shop running for my mother, she's always loved books, and she's needed to rest the past few years. it's hard to say no, when it's family. or maybe just because it's my mother, and it's me.'

'but radio?' jinki asked. his voice was rich and firm, and it sounded to jonghyun more like a statement than a question. a relief. 

'somewhere i can provide a place to rest. where people...where maybe i don't have to shirk from my own story.' jonghyun laughed a little. self-deprecating. 'i'm always watching the customers, you know? i see so much, and sometimes they want to share with me too, sometimes they tell me or show me or ask me what i think. i want to share that with more people...and i want to share my words. my compositions.'

jinki's finger jerked away from jonghyun's wrist at that. 'you compose music?'

jonghyun nodded easily. it was the one thing he felt more confident about. 'what we're listening to is one….' jonghyun couldn't count which time this was, when their gazes caught again, dark reflections. he could still feel jinki's touch on his wrist, on his knee. just brief touches.

6:25pm

_ my love, see yourself reflected in my eyes _

_ so beautiful _

_ please don’t be shy _

_ i want to place you in my eyes, just as you are _

jonghyun was scribbling in his corner chair in the pad he kept in his pocket just as taemin was clearing up the bar for the day. he imagined he could still feel jinki's vacated warmth. 

'how can you possibly fall in love in one day, hyung?' taemin asked after he'd marched over, looking frankly astonished. jonghyun ducked his head. it's not like he had meant to. he said so without looking up until the last word. taemin shook his head, disbelieving. 'did you get his number?'

jonghyun looked miserable. he shook his head too. it had all been so fast. jinki was so warm and solid and steady, kept drawing jonghyun out from behind his counter to ask him something else, to share a different book jinki might not have read, to lock eyes with him, to note that the rain was slowing, then dripping, then stopping, feeling helpless as jinki got a call from his own parents to remind him about the dinner they were to share, wishing they'd shared more than a brief touch as jinki had walked past jonghyun, their arms brushing together. jonghyun could still feel the slightly stiff cotton against his skin. the rain had stopped but the clouds lingered, heavy and dark, close to bursting again under cover of night. the light had faded and the candlewicks bloomed and taemin was cleaning out the espresso machine so carefully and tidily. 

'i hope he'll come back.'

*

six weeks later, 5:25pm

the drip of the rain had steadied into a cool fog over the city. the monsoons were gone, the humidity as well in such great depths. it was still warm but no longer sickly, the air no longer suffocating. the leaves were beginning to change as jonghyun slipped into his shop that late september morning. he had wondered if it was too soon to start breaking out the autumn harvest candles, adding pumpkin spices to the chai that had stayed resolutely next to the register. winter was his favorite season, but autumn would do, and at any rate was hundreds of times better than summer.

he was pointing at a bun in the pastry case for taemin to ring up for him, just then on break, when the door opened. it wasn't unusual for the days to get busier as the weather became cooler--everyone craved warm coffee at their fingertips and a warm story in their heads at this time of year. he watched with a proud grin as taemin warmed it expertly in the convection oven, handing over a hot latte at the same time with a natural steadiness. jonghyun took his snack back to his register. it was his break but he had a good feeling about a small group of customers who had come in about a half hour before--they had been gathering a well-sized collection among all their arms, and seemed nearly ready to check out. he paused on his way--he hadn't noticed another customer come in quietly as he'd been ordering from taemin. he was settled into jonghyun's favorite armchair, the corner one up against the full window facing the street. he had deep brown curls, no longer red-tinted.

better late than never.

'oh what are you reading?' 

jinki glanced up to see an employee standing to the side, as if he were just walking past, with a quirked smile and gaze directed towards the sliver of space he had lifted his book cover from the table. no, not an employee. _jonghyun_. 

jinki's eyes scrunched up into smiles and he found himself standing, hands subconsciously reaching out to hold jonghyun, somehow, anyhow. he couldn't count how many times he had berated himself for forgetting everything before leaving, the last time. he paused, faltered, bit his lip, held his breath, but jonghyun grinned back and came to his side, looped their arms, and tipped them back together into his favorite lounge chair by the grey-soaked window, the sputtering of a lit wick, the rain reflecting on the roads, all the spattering footsteps and closed faces and their grins through the glass. 'i'm sorry it's taken some time….' just as 'i didn't know if you'd be back….'

in the pause between them, jinki noticed that the music from unseen speakers was cradled by a voice this time, one he could recognize. each word seemed to brush against him.

'you added lyrics,' jinki noted. 

jonghyun smiled. 'i know it's only been a few moments, between us, but….'

he took jinki's hand. 

_ no one knew we’d fall in love like this _

_ you don’t even know _

_ how big my feelings are _

_ of course, of course my feelings are bigger _

_ but you say you love me more _

_ no i love you more _

**Author's Note:**

> i've struggled through a long writing hiatus over the past couple of years, so this feels like a very small step towards getting back on my feet  
> that being said, it might feel a bit different from my other work, but i hope it still brings some happiness


End file.
